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Episode 98: Fanfic Part 2 – Surfing the Web

We’re joined by ASC Award Winner B.A. Lopez to discuss fanfiction’s migration onto the internet, from net.startrek in 1982 through Archive of Our Own today, with a few stops along the way. We also talk about our own experiences in the fanfic community, as well as its demographics and culture.

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2 comments for “Episode 98: Fanfic Part 2 – Surfing the Web”

Have not had a chance to listen to the podcast yet; I look forward to doing so. However, I did take a few moments to click around on the reference links above and saw this:

“The different fanfic eras explained as lunch

Pre-internet era: You walk into a room and sit down at a table. Someone brings you a turkey sandwich, a bag of potato chips, and a soda. Perhaps you are a vegetarian, or gluten-free. Doesn’t matter; you get a turkey sandwich, a bag of potato chips, and a soda.”

Good job breaking down the AO3 census, which confirmed my observation that it attracts a LOT more slash than FF.net. It also has a lot more crackships, both straight and gay, although I think demographics is just one of many reasons. For those new to fanfiction, it means a romantic pair that most of us would NEVER think of. Unlike ships on AO3, most AU’s I see involve more mundane situations than what Sue and Andi read. They most attempt to answer what if so-and-so did things differently.

On a macro level, men are still more likely to be told be Shatner to get a life for getting hung up on minute technical details in SNL. But unlike BA, I personally can’t tell the author’s gender if they use an ambiguous screenname. Maybe it’s because I’m younger than her but whatever differences she saw back then have faded. The trend of men as collectors/keepers of canon and women as creators has come up in several episodes. While that stereotype is true in the big picture, it’s more complicated when you look more closely. I find that Trek has more male writers than other fandoms. I estimate that Triaxian Silk (a Trip/T’Pol shipping and fanfic group) is 40% male.